Massachuses Bueries Spring 2020, No. 54 Massachusetts Butteries is the semiannual publication of the Massachusetts Buttery Club, a chapter of the North American Buttery Association. Membership in NABA-MBC brings you American Butteries and Buttery Gardener . If you live in the state of Massachusetts, you also receive Massachusetts Butteries , and our mailings of eld trips, meetings, and NABA Counts in Massachusetts. Out-of-state members of NABA-MBC and others who wish to receive Massachusetts Butteries may order it from our secretary for $7 per issue, including postage. Regular NABA dues are $35 for an individual, $45 for a family, and $70 outside the U.S, Canada, or Mexico. Send a check made out to “NABA” to: NABA, 4 Delaware Road, Morristown, NJ 07960 . NABA-MASSACHUSETTS BUTTERFLY CLUB Ofcers: President : Steve Moore, 400 Hudson Street, Northboro, MA, 01532. (508) 393-9251 [email protected] Vice President-East : Martha Gach, 16 Rockwell Drive, Shrewsbury, MA ,01545. (508) 981-8833 [email protected] Vice President-West : Bill Callahan, 15 Noel Street, Springeld, MA, 01108 (413) 734-8097 [email protected] Treasurer : Elise Barry, 363 South Gulf Road, Belchertown, MA, 01007. (413) 461-1205 [email protected] Secretary : Barbara Volkle, 400 Hudson Street, Northboro, MA, 01532. (508) 393-9251 [email protected] Staff Editor, Massachusetts Butteries : Bill Benner, 53 Webber Road, West Whately, MA, 01039. (413) 320-4422 [email protected] Records Compiler : Mark Fairbrother, 129 Meadow Road, Montague, MA, 01351-9512. [email protected] Webmaster : Karl Barry, 363 South Gulf Road, Belchertown, MA, 01007. (413) 461-1205 [email protected] www.massbutteries.org Massachusetts Butteries No. 54, Spring 2020 © Copyright 2020 NABA-Massachusetts Buttery Club. All rights reserved. Contents 2 2019 Flight of Cloudless Sulphurs in Massachusetts Brian Cassie 5 “Snoutbreak” 2019 Bill Benner 9 2019 Season Summary and Records Mark Fairbrother 43 2019 Donor - Volunteers Elise Barry _______________________________________ Banded Hairstreaks ( Satyrium calanus ). 6/27/19, Montague, MA, Kyle Bradford (left); 6/26/19, Concord, MA, Linda Graetz (right) _________________________________________ Cover photo: American Snout ( Libytheana carinenta ), 7/11/19, Cambridge, MA, Mark Rosenstein 1 2019 Flight of Cloudless Sulphurs in Massachusetts By Brian Cassie Late summer and early fall 2019 were witness to an outstanding ight of Cloudless Sulphurs in eastern Massachusetts. The rst reported sightings were on August 15, the last on October 5. In this time frame, 187 Cloudless Sulphurs were specically reported. In addition, buttery watchers commented generally on “daily” ights and large numbers (a.k.a. tons) in parts of Cape Cod, especially in Chatham and vicinity at the elbow of Cape Cod. In the massive fall ight of 1998, Chatham was also the epicenter of Cloudless Sulphur reports. The 2019 reports from the Cape came from Barn - stable, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, East Harwich, Falmouth, Hyan- nis, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Yarmouth, Yarmouthport, Welleet, West Dennis, and at sea off Chatham (special thanks to Blair Nikula for his pelagic buttery report). Marthas Vineyard Cloudless Sulphurs, reported by Vineyard res- ident and long-time buttery watcher Matt Pelikan, were seen in Chilmark, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and West Tisbury. Along the shores of Buzzards Bay, from Wareham to Westport, scores of Cloudless Sulphurs were seen, most busily ying east - ward in direct ight. A few butteries were noted nectaring at goldenrods and other owers. On September 23, the author observed a female Cloudless Sulphur laying eggs on Partridge Pea foliage, alongside the coastal dirt road at Allen’s Pond Wildlife Sanctuary, in South Dartmouth. The buttery laid the eggs, perhaps twenty, while under very close observation from 10:50-11:00 a.m. This is apparently the rst time Cloudless Sulphur has been reported ovipositing on Partridge Pea in this state. North of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay, there were records in the coastal town of Plymouth and as far north as Parker River National 2 Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island, in Essex County. In addition, and signicantly, three or four Cloudless Sulphurs were seen at inland sites, a very unusual circumstance for this species in the Bay State. The author saw one or two in Norton on September 1 and another in Attleboro on September 19 - all ying along a wide power line clearing on the Norton-Attleboro line. He also observed a Cloud- less Sulphur at Horn Pond Mountain in Woburn, on September 16. The following persons’ Cloudless Sulphur sightings are the basis of this account : Elise Barry, Fred Bouchard, Brian Cassie, Joe Dwel- ly, Mark Faherty, Mark Kasprzyk, Emily Kellogg, Serge Matheny, Lauren Miller-Donnelly, Michael Newton, Blair Nikula, Matt Pelikan, Scott Richardson, Alison Robb, and Mark Rosenstein. They were shared via personal email with the author or through the Masslep website. Ode to a Buttery ou spark of life that wavest wings of gold, ou songless wanderer mid the songful birds, With Nature’s secrets in thy tints unrolled rough gorgeous cipher, past the reach of words, Yet dear to every child In glad pursuit beguiled, Living his unspoiled days mid owers and ocks and herds! ou winged blossom, liberated thing, What secret tie binds thee to other owers, Still held within the garden’s fostering? Will they too soar with the completed hours, Take ight, and be like thee Irrevocably free, Hovering at will o’er their parental bowers? 3 Or is thy lustre drawn from heavenly hues, A sumptuous driing fragment of the sky, Caught when the sunset its last glance imbues With sudden splendor, and the tree-tops high Grasp that swi blazonry, en lend those tints to thee, On thee to oat a few short hours, and die? Birds have their nests; they rear their eager young, And it on errands all the livelong day; Each eldmouse keeps the homestead whence it sprung; But thou art Nature’s freeman,—free to stray Unfettered through the wood, Seeking thine airy food, e sweetness spiced on every blossomed spray. e garden one wide banquet spreads for thee, O daintiest reveller of the joyous earth! One drop of honey gives satiety; A second draught would drug thee past all mirth. y feast no orgy shows; y calm eyes never close, ou soberest sprite to which the sun gives birth. And yet the soul of man upon thy wings Forever soars in aspiration; thou His emblem of the new career that springs When death’s arrest bids all his spirit bow. He seeks his hope in thee Of immortality. Symbol of li fe, me with such faith endow! —omas Wentworth Higginson 4 “Snoutbreak” 2019 by Bill Benner First, a quick recap. Ten years ago, in the Spring 2010 is - sue of Massachusetts Butteries , I wrote an article entitled “Massa- chusetts Rarities”. I briey discussed 19 species of butteries that were either only rarely or never recorded in Massachusetts prior to that article, based on the buttery club’s and any other records that were available to me at the time. There have been some interest - ing changes since then! For example, the rst species I discussed in that article was Giant Swallowtail, a species with only a few records up until that time, and one which has since become an uncommon but regular species, at least in some years. For that species, as well as for some of the others that I discussed in the article (e.g. Red-banded Hairstreak, Gray Comma), it remains to be seen whether the recent increases in sightings are transient or instead more permanent population changes. American Snout (Libythena carinenta ), 7/27/19, Shefeld, MA, Michael Newton One species that I discussed was the American Snout, Libytheana carinenta . Here’s what I had to say back then: “This southern immigrant could occasionally breed ephem - erally in the state [Hackberry, Celtis , is its host plant], but they can- not survive the winter here, and most reports seem to be of stray individuals. There are a few 19th century reports, and 13 more recent records, from October 1972 (Chatham, Barnstable county) through October 2008 (Westport, Bristol ). All, but one, are from 5 eastern MA; the exception is a report from Hadley ( Hampshire ) on 7/8/2007. The earliest record in this recent series is from June 28, and most records are from the late summer and fall, as would be expected with a southern stray. However, the earliest overall record is the most recent one, an astonishing outlier of a sighting of an individual in Petersham ( Worcester ) on 4/20/2009a full two months earlier than any other sighting in the state. Connecticut has 20 historical records and recorded it four times during their atlas. Rhode Island also has a handful of recent records, mostly from around Narragansett Bay. This is a buttery worth looking for in gardens, especially near Hackberry trees along the coast, and per- haps in the Connecticut and Blackstone Valleys, particularly during the latter half of the season. Since then, we had added 10 more records from September 2009 in Westport and Dartmouth ( Bristol ), through the most recent, July 2015 from Shefeld ( Berkshire ). American Snout (Libythena carinenta ), 9/15/19, Boston, MA, Lucy Merrill-Hills Well, 2019 blew this out of the water. There are 32 records in the clubs database for 2019undoubtedly only a fraction of the actual number of Snouts that made their way to Massachusetts this year. Contrast this with the 23 TOTAL records for all prior mod - ern years, from 1972 through 2018. Clearly, 2019 was an amazing year for American Snouts! Here is the Hall of Fame for American Snout sightings re- ported to the club’s database for 2019. Thanks to Michael Newton for the idea for the title of this short note! Thanks to all of you 6 American Snout ( Libythena carinenta ), 6/12/19, Jamaica Plain, MA, Lucy Merrill-Hills who spend your time in the eld and then spend more time sharing your sightings with us.